


by highest heaven adored

by iwantthemtostay, slitheredherefromeden



Series: redemption has stories to tell [2]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21945040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwantthemtostay/pseuds/iwantthemtostay, https://archiveofourown.org/users/slitheredherefromeden/pseuds/slitheredherefromeden
Summary: Five vignettes, or, an Eva interlude
Relationships: Scott Moir/Tessa Virtue
Series: redemption has stories to tell [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580119
Comments: 40
Kudos: 214





	by highest heaven adored

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays everyone! We hope this story finds you well and brightens up your Tuesday.
> 
> This story covers a few years, but don’t worry, we’ll be writing stuff that happens during this time in the future too

** _2019_ **

The first night Eva sleeps in her crib, Tessa doesn’t really sleep. 

It’s stupid, and she says so out loud when Scott throws an arm over her waist. “She’s been sleeping through the night in here,” Tessa mutters to herself, eyes trained on the baby monitor. Eva hasn’t moved since Scott came back from laying her down. It’d been a long day for her with a short nap. She didn’t even put up a fuss come bedtime, poor thing so beyond exhausted she barely made it through her last feeding.

Scott pulls her glasses off her face despite her complaints. “Exactly why you don’t need to be staring at that thing.” He reaches over and flips the screen off which nearly has her shrieking. “The sound is still on, Tess. It’s okay. She’s okay.”

She takes a deep breath. He’s right. Their little girl is going to do great in her room.

Tessa doesn’t fall asleep but Scott does, approximately ten minutes after their short conversation. She half wishes he’d stay up with her, after all she can think of quite a few fun ways to take her mind off the fact that Eva isn’t an arm’s length away, but between Nathan and the baby, Scott had his work cut out for him today. 

It seems the closer to four Nathan gets, the less like her sweet little boy he is.

Once Scott rolls away, Tessa carefully climbs out of the bed. She means to go downstairs to work, honest, but she can’t very well go downstairs without checking on her kids first. Becca has practically disappeared beneath her mountains of blankets, too cold with the AC running, whereas Mollie is starfished on her bed in nothing but her underwear, her sheet kicked to the floor. Nathan somehow looks grumpy even in his sleep tonight and Tessa rubs her thumb softly between his eyebrows until he relaxes and clutches on to his stuffed cow. She’s been wondering if they should look into some kind of play therapy but her mom, Marian and Alma have all assured her that the little strops her not-so-baby boy has been having are just part of growing up, especially now that he’s adjusting to not being the youngest anymore. 

Marner gets a rub too as she passes him in the hall. She holds her breath as she opens the door to the nursery. There’s no hearing Eva’s slightly congested breathing with the white noise machine going and Tessa has half a mind to turn it down. She doubts that she could do that without waking Scott though; his hearing when it comes to Eva being like that of a bloodhound. (She’s aware that bloodhounds are known for their sense of smell, but she’s too focused on her baby to think of a good comparison at the moment.)

Tessa crouches down beside the crib. Eva is, unfortunately, looking the opposite direction so all she can see is the back of Eva’s head, just barely able to make out the red strands that have started to curl there. She knows if she were to touch them, they’d be feather light and smell like oranges and vanilla. Eva’s tiny fist clenches once before relaxing, her legs kicking a little too. She must be dreaming.

Reaching through the slats, Tessa runs her index finger along the length of Eva’s hand. It’s enough to get her baby to open up and latch on and Tessa grins widely. 

She used to do this a lot with Nathan. She had assumed then it was just because he was her first, her only. It took so long for him to get here that it only made sense that she wanted to spend every waking moment observing him, loving him, thanking the entire universe for him. With Eva, she’s found that this is just who she is. She’s a mom who would gladly give up a night of sleep to watch her kids as they dream. 

She’s done it for each of them now. Becca and Mollie on occasion and Nathan more often than not with his latent threenager attitude. Up until now it’d been easy to watch Eva because she was always right beside her (or, right beside Scott). Tessa isn’t ready to give this up yet. Even if Eva is sleeping through the night just fine.

Eva twitches in her sleep again, fist opening and closing around Tessa’s finger, and Tessa holds her breath. Part of her wants Eva to start fussing, just so she’ll have an excuse to pick her up, never mind the fact that it’s the opposite of what they’ve taught her so far while the more logical part of her is cheering her little lady on, encouraging her to stay in her slumber. Eva lets out the tiniest of whines before turning her head. Her eyes are still closed but her pacifier is wiggling with each suckle, her nose whistling just a little. Tessa sighs, warm and fond, and presses her face up against the crib.

Slowly, and not all the way, Eva’s eyes open. Tessa’s sure she looks like a deer caught in the headlights, even as her lips twitch into a tiny grin. The rest of her stays still, careful not to rouse her baby any more than she already has. Eva, in her half sleep, smiles around her pacifier, and then closes her eyes again.

Oh, this wonderful girl of hers.

Sometime around four in the morning, Tessa wakes up to Scott lifting her back to bed.

—

** _2020_ **

Eva toddles into Becca’s room while Becca is working on her homework.

It’s not very often that Daddy or Tessa let Eva roam freely upstairs so Becca worries for a second that maybe her little sister has escaped from her crib. It would not be the first time but her door is usually shut in case that happens. “What are you getting up to, Evie?” Becca slips off her desk chair and Eva walks over faster, arms out in front of her as she rushes up. 

Eva hugs are different than other hugs Becca has gotten from smaller kids. The hugs she shares with her cousins are nice and warm but always short. Hugs with Mollie are only very tight when they’re apologizing to each other. She thinks that her and Mollie kiss more than they hug. Nathan probably hugs the most like Eva (It makes Becca consider that maybe they hug like Tessa, but her Daddy hugs like them too). Nathan hugs her with his whole body, squeezing his arms tight around her and trying to rock them back and forth. But Eva takes it a step further; Eva throws her whole body against Becca and curls up in Becca’s embrace, her little hands holding tight around Becca’s neck and her legs wrapping around Becca’s waist. 

It’s never quick with Eva either. Her hugs can last minutes. Once, Becca even managed to read a whole chapter of her book while Eva hugged her! She even had Tessa check to see if Eva had fallen asleep on her but her baby sister was just happy to be hugging her.

Eva giggles then sighs softly as she rests her head on Becca’s shoulder. She still isn’t too good with words yet but Becca’s found that it’s fun trying to figure out what Eva is trying to say (most of the time. It’s not very fun when Eva gets frustrated that they don’t understand and starts yelling). One thing that is clear is Eva’s love yous and Eva says she loves Becca before leaving a wet kiss on Becca’s cheek.

Becca smiles wide and hugs Eva tighter. “I should get back to my math,” she says eventually. She tries to let Eva go but the baby just holds on like a little koala. Becca sighs, kissing Eva’s hair as she stands back up. Eva is delighted, looking down at the ground and then up at Becca with a huge grin.

Once Becca sits them down at the desk, however, Eva quickly turns herself around, picking up the pencil Becca left on top of her homework. She uses it like a drumstick against the wood but then brings it up to her mouth and— “ _ No _ , Evie!” This pencil has the best eraser! She cannot let it get ruined just because Eva has more teeth coming in.

Eva grunts and fists the pencil tighter when Becca tries to take it. She doesn’t understand how strong Eva is when she’s still so tiny. “Here, here,” Becca says, plucking a highlighter from the cup on her desk. Hopefully she’ll be more interested in the bright color rather than the boring old pencil she currently has.

She waves the highlighter in front of Eva’s face, slowly trying to pull the pencil away at the same time. Becca is rewarded with an angry squawk and nearly gets poked in the eye.

“Okay, okay, no.” Becca swings her legs out to the side so she can slide Eva off. She has homework to do and books to read and she very much likes being able to see with both eyes. This doesn’t make Eva happy either but it does make her drop the pencil, a success in Becca’s book. She quickly grabs the pencil, tossing it without looking into her open backpack. Eva scrambles up so that she’s back on Becca’s lap, once again facing her sister. 

“Hey, Becca?” The girls both perk up at the sound of their daddy’s voice, and Becca turns around to see him smiling. “Oh, did I interrupt some girl time?” Eva smiles, starts making a bunch of noises that Becca’s sure make perfect sense to Eva but don’t make any sense to them. “Is she bothering you?” Daddy asks, tilting his head towards Becca’s desk. “I can take her.”

Usually Eva is quick to go to Daddy or Tessa but instead she just burrows into Becca’s shoulder, a little sigh puffing against Becca’s neck. 

“It’s okay,” Becca says with a smile and a gentle pat to Eva’s back. “She can cuddle a while.”

—

** _2021_ **

He didn’t realize how thankful he should be to his girls before he walks into Eva’s nursery to get her up from her nap to find her diaper off and her body absolutely covered in shit.

He’s heard stories of kids doing this before, of course. Both of his brothers have had a kid or two who liked playing with their diapers and Chiddy’s little one was notorious for it (something that Mrs. Chan had announced to be an inherited trait). Not Becca or Mollie though and he knows Nathan wasn’t like this either. 

Clearly he’s been lulled into a false sense of security.

The worst part is she’s just  _ grinning  _ at him from the middle of her room, like there isn’t poop smeared on her legs and hands and belly. He thanks God that there isn’t any on her face because at least that means she hasn’t eaten any. His stomach churns at the thought. Her diaper is face down on the throw rug and Scott decided not to even try to clean it. He’ll just wrap her up in it then throw it out once he gets her clean.

“Hi, Dad-dy,” she says, bright and syllables stressed.

He takes a deep breath in an effort to ready himself. It’s the worst move he could make. “What have we been  _ feeding _ you?” He gags a little before turning his nose to his shirt to get a whiff of laundry detergent before going forward to grab his littlest.

Eva is delighted to be put into the shower instead of the tub, laughing as Scott moves the showerhead all over her. He knows she needs a good scrub but he would love to touch as little poop as possible. She’s talking so, so much now that Scott can’t believe she’s only just turned two. It feels like her vocabulary is off the charts, or maybe it’s just been that long since his girls were small. Come to think of it, Nathan had (still has) an excellent vocabulary for his age. It’s not hard to think that Tessa makes brilliant babies.

Speaking of, Tessa walks into the bathroom, her meeting must have finished early if she’s already home, and Eva is quick to dart around Scott, her slippery, soapy skin too hard to hold onto. “Hello, darling,” Tessa laughs. “Why are we having bathtime?” The question is asked with confused eyes and all Scott can do is sigh and point to the rest of the crime scene in the tub. “Oh my dear god, what  _ happened? _ ”

“Diap _ er _ off, Mama,” Eva exclaims as she wraps herself around Tessa’s leg.

Tessa looks absolutely horrified as she slowly asks, “Was she— did she— Scott, please tell me it wasn’t on our baby’s face.”

He holds onto the edge of the counter to help himself up and his knee pops loudly once he’s on his feet. “Nearly everywhere but.” Tessa sighs against his mouth. What he meant to be a quick kiss turns into three needy, firm ones, Tessa’s hand going to fist in his shirt before he stops her. “I don’t know if I moved her unscathed myself.” 

Both he and Eva laugh as Tessa takes a big step back, her eyes wide, scanning his body to figure out if she did already touch poop. “I’m going to change,” Tessa says with an apologetic smile. “And get clothes for your two… and I guess throw out the rug.” She lifts Eva off her leg, swiftly kissing her chubby cheek before handing her off to Scott. 

Eva wraps her arms around him, most of the soap that was left on her down by her legs, though the shampoo in her hair is thankfully where it should be and not running down to her eyes. “Rain, Daddy?” She points to the abandoned shower head. “Please?”

The moment her feet hit the ground she takes off toward the shower, faster than Scott likes with water everywhere. He grabs her hand to steady her for when she inevitably slips— and she does, a quick gasp as she realizes what’s happening followed by a string of laughter when Scott lifts her in order to right her. “Careful, baby.” He turns the water on low so she can play with it just while he rids himself of his clothes, deciding there’s no point now in not showering himself. The smell of Eva’s mess is probably clinging to him anyway, even if her poop isn’t.

Afterwards, all clean and smelling a million times better than they had, Scott sits Eva on the bathroom counter so he can brush her hair. His own towel is tight around his hips while Eva is completely lost in hers, the only part poking out from the large towel of Nathan’s with cows and sheep and ducks all over being her bright red hair and round face. He explains once more, very firmly, that diapers are  _ not _ for playing with. “It’s soooo yucky,” he says with an exaggerated face that leaves Eva smiling even though Scott can tell she’s not overly fond of the way she’s getting a talking to. It’s her eyes that give her away, just like her mother.

Eva shucks off her towel and then stands up, little hands slapping against his chest in an effort to steady herself since there’s no shirt for her to grab on to (he thanks his lucky stars that she’s not a pincher like Mollie was). She doesn’t fully climb onto him, just puts her hands on his shoulders so she can lean forward and give him a kiss. “Love you, Daddy.”

He holds her tight. “I love you.” Scott pulls back just enough to get a good look at Eva’s face. “No more playing with your diaper.”

She glares and drops back down to the counter. She gets that from her mom too, he thinks. 

—

** _2023_ **

“Oh my god,” Mollie groans from her spot on top of the ice chest. “Mama, why are they like this?”

Mama looks up from her book, a frown on her face. “What’re you talking about, darling?” Mollie waves a hand out to the field in front of them. It’s embarrassing to look at. She knows they’re only little kids but not one of them are standing where they should be! “It’s just about having fun when they’re this tiny,” Mama says. “They’re still learning.”

Mollie does not remember being this bad when she started playing soccer. Maybe it was different then. She’ll have to ask Daddy when he’s done talking to Charlie.

She stands up, just to have something to do. She thought it would be fun coming to watch Eva play but now she’s starting to wish she went with Becca and Nathan to Grammy’s. Mollie opens up the ice chest, surveying all the treats Mama packed for half time. She knows they’re for Eva’s team but Mama also packed a whole lot. “Can I have an orange slice?”

“Of course. Grab me one too? And another water?” 

Mollie puts the water bottle in the cup holder on Mama’s chair then grabs two orange slices. Together, they put them in their mouths whole and smile, revealing the bright orange peels. It always makes Mollie laugh which makes Mama laugh too. Laughing, Mollie thinks, is way better than watching Eva play soccer. Cause that just makes her want to scream.

She hasn’t heard any whistle but Eva’s marched over to them, her jersey so big it’s almost as long as her shorts. “Eva,” Mollie exclaims, “you’re playing a game! You can’t just come to the sidelines.”

Eva’s nose wrinkles. “But I’m thirsty.”

Mama cracks open her water and takes a sip before holding it out for Eva. “You should wait for your coach to say you can get water,” Mama explains. “Are you having fun?”

Eva shrugs. 

The game is totally crazy. The kids on both teams only score in one net and no one really tries to block any balls either!

Mama and Daddy help pass out the snacks when half time comes and Eva sits happily in Mama’s chair as she munches on her oranges. “You should try to kick the ball,” Mollie tells her, plopping down on the grass in front of Eva. “That’s the fun part.”

Eva has juice running down her chin and onto her knees. Mollie digs around in Mama’s purse for some wipes. “Nobody kicked to me.”

“You have to go get it.” She cleans Eva’s knees. “From someone on the other team.” 

Her sister frowns. “That’s not very nice though.”

“That’s what you’re supposed to do,” Mollie sighs. “It’s okay when you’re playing soccer.”

Eva’s brow furrows and her tongue darts out to lick the juice on her face. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Daddy!” Their parents turn, Mama’s belly so big now that it puts Mollie and Eva in the shade. Mollie wants to lean back so the sun can hit her again. She didn’t bring her sweater from the car and it’s a little too chilly without the sun on her. She hopes Eva isn’t cold. It’s not like she got sweaty playing the game, Eva barely moved. “Can you tell Eva that she should steal the ball?”

“You said stealing is bad,” Eva shouts, little finger pointing between Daddy and Mama.

Mama quirks her lips and pats Daddy’s shoulder. “You’re up.” 

Daddy sits down next to Mollie. Everyone keeps telling her she’s getting too big (she is ten now after all) but Mollie climbs into his lap anyway. She thinks it’s kind of stupid how her friends don’t like hanging out with their parents. Hers are awesome. “Stealing is very bad, you’re right, Evie. But your sister is right too. It’s how you play the game!”

Eva tries to push her hair back, Mollie has no idea how it even managed to fall out of her pigtails, while also taking a sip of water which means water goes down her shirt and her hair falls back in her face. “This is so silly,” Eva says with a roll of her eyes.

Mollie looks up at Daddy and he smiles a little funny. She knows Daddy gets it, how silly Eva is being. “It might be, but your sister is the best soccer player I know.” Mollie can feel herself blushing even though she knows her daddy is right. The rest of her team last season was… not good. It’s why she decided not to play this year. “She knows what she’s talking about. You should let her show you some tips!”

Her sister holds out her last orange wedge. “Will it be more fun then?” Mollie nods then leans forward to grab the orange with her teeth, sucking it in until it fills up her smile and Eva laughs the same way Mama and her did earlier. “Okay!”

Daddy quickly fixes Eva’s hair so Mollie grabs one of the team’s soccer balls. She dribbles the ball between her feet, kicking it over to Eva as she starts running up. 

Eva stops it but doesn’t kick it back. 

Mollie sighs and walks the short distance over to her sister. “Here, this is how you kick the ball.” She explains how to turn her foot out so she can kick the ball with the inside of her foot, taps the ball just a little to show her but not so far that they have to chase after the ball. “Can you do that?”

It doesn't go very far when Eva kicks it but she kicks it! She kicks it exactly like Mollie showed her. “Great job, Evie! Come on, let’s do it again!” Eva doesn’t look convinced in the slightest but does as her sister asks, jogging the short way to the ball and stopping to make sure she gets her foot just right before kicking it. 

Mollie whoops when it goes even further and when Eva looks back at her like she’s hung the moon. “That went far, Mollie!” She holds up both hands for a high five and it would have been a great high five except one of Eva’s hands miss, instead slapping Mollie right in the face. Eva gasps and rushes forward. “Sorry sorry sorry!”

It only kind of stings so Mollie hugs Eva tight as she says, “Maybe you should get into hockey.”

—

** _2023_ **

He’s upset.

Mama said he’s being a grouchy bug and Daddy said he got up on the wrong side of the bed but that’s not it. He’s upset because he was supposed to go to the farm today except now he can’t because he didn’t finish his book report. They wouldn’t have even known he hadn’t finished if it wasn’t for Becca!

And it’s not like he didn't finish the book. He finished it in two nights! He just doesn’t understand why he has to write a whole report on it. It wasn’t that good of a book.

He tried to convince Daddy to take him out to the farm once he finishes his book report but he had said no. Nathan  _ really _ hopes that Henrietta doesn’t have her foal today.

(Mama didn’t even care that he might miss that either! Just said that he should’ve thought about that when he decided not to do his homework. If you ask him, Mama is the grouchy bug, getting grouchier the closer the baby is to coming.)

Becca offers to help him with his report except she has to leave for dance rehearsal so if he waits for her, it’ll be really late when they start. That probably won’t go over well with their parents. “Mom, I promise I’ll help,” she says out in the hall and Nathan doesn’t have to look to know Mama is shaking her head. “I feel bad.”

“You didn’t do anything. Go, get your hair up. Your dad will be back from dropping off Mollie soon.”

Nathan huffs in the middle of his bed, fingers running over the wooden cows he’s had for as long as he can remember. Matilda is probably wondering where he is too, old girl. He visits every Sunday and it’s rude that his parents want him to disappoint his friend, even if she is a cow.

There’s a knock on his open door, Eva’s red head poking in. “Hi, Nate.”

“Hi, Eva.” He gets up to put the cows on top of his dresser where she can’t reach. Eva probably couldn’t do much to ruin them but he’s still not happy about the teeth marks she left as a baby on the butt of the big one. “I don’t want to play.”

Eva smiles and comes in anyway, dragging his backpack behind her. “I don’t want to play too.” 

“Why do you have my stuff?”

“I wanna help.” She tries to lift his backpack onto his bed but it’s too heavy so Nathan watches as Eva climbs onto his bed then pulls his backpack up. It’s still a bit of a struggle for her and he goes to help, even if he doesn’t understand what Eva is doing, but she shakes her head and grunts out, “I got it, Nate.”

He sighs. And watches. It takes one whole minute for her to get the backpack next to her on the bed. “Why do you need my backpack?”

“For the book report!” She says it like he’s the stupid one for not knowing that. “I wanna help.”

Nathan sits down on the other side of his backpack, unzipping the biggest pocket. “I don’t think you can help, Eva. You can’t even read yet.”

Her eyebrows furrow and she crosses her arms. “Can too,” she shouts. “I can read the little engine book!”

She can’t, she just has the words memorized she’s made them all read it so much, but Nathan knows it wouldn’t be very kind to say that. “This isn’t that book, though. You don’t know how to read this one.” He pulls out his copy of  _ Road Trip  _ for Eva to see. “I don’t think you can help.”

“But I want to.”

He sighs and pulls out his folder so he can show her the book report he has to fill out. “I have to do this.”

Eva nods, looking very closely at the paper. “What does it say?”

Nathan tries to get his glasses higher up on his nose by wiggling it but the frames just slip lower, so he has to push them up with his hand. “The first line wants to know what the title of the book is.”

She nods again. “What is the title?”

“ _ Road Trip with Max and his Mom.” _

“Sooooo, you should write that.” Eva opens the smaller zipper and pulls out a pencil for him. “Here.” Nathan puts the book underneath his report so he has something hard to write on. “It’s easy, right? ‘Cause you know how to write!” She giggles and repeats  _ right write _ under her breath. It gets a little annoying after the first few times but it seems to make his little sister happy. 

They go through the whole page and he writes down all the answers, because if he has to say them to Eva anyway, because she asks, then it would be silly to not write them down.

He’s still upset that he can’t go to the farm today but he does feel a little better tucking his finished report into his backpack. “Did I help?”

Nathan smiles. “You did. Thank you, Evie.”

She claps excitedly. “We should tell Mama you did it and I helped! Maybe we can get cookies!”

He knows Mama won’t give them any of the good kind of cookies, but they both really like the oatmeal raisin ones anyway. “Good idea. Race you!”

Eva gets off his bed  _ much _ faster than she had climbed on. He hopes his little brother will be kind like she is. 


End file.
